Vehicle interiors include various accessories to improve the comfort and convenience of the vehicle. For example, vehicle interiors are often provided with various compartments adapted to store items such as maps, coins, compact discs and tapes, and other personal items of the vehicle occupants. A storage compartment in a vehicle interior may be provided on a center console or mounted to a dashboard as a glove box, for example. An access door or lid is typically provided to cover an opening to the storage compartment so that items may be secured and hidden from view. The door of the storage compartment is typically maintained in a closed position by a latch associated with the storage assembly, and a spring is often used to bias the door toward an open position when the latch is released. Vehicle storage compartments may further include a damper to control the motion of the door between the closed and open positions. Because the damper and latch are usually provided as separate mechanisms, increased costs and manufacturing time are required to assemble conventional vehicle storage assemblies. Moreover, the dampers are not typically tunable to permit optimization of the motion and speed of door movement between the closed an open positions.
A need therefore exists for a vehicle storage assembly that addresses these and other drawbacks of the prior art.